If there’s a contest to see who can write the most over-the-top response to Todd Grantham’s Crime of the Century stupid choking gesture, it’s officially over. John Clay has managed to make Tony Barnhart look reasonable by comparison. It’s not simply that he’s called for Grantham to be fired, or even that he’s tossed out this O tempora! O mores! plea:

… Have college athletics become so mercenary, so dollar-oriented it would let something so egregious — a coach of one team making insulting gestures and screaming obscenities at a player on the other team — slide? Will we excuse anything and everything in the name of winning?

No, what closes the deal is that he actually attempts to find some equivalence (“On a related note…”) between the incident and the tragic death at Notre Dame of Declan Sullivan.

“After Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham directed a choking gesture at him in overtime last Saturday night in Jacksonville, Florida kicker Chas Henry did something a tad unconventional for the manly world of football.

With the pressure on and Florida’s Southeastern Conference eastern division hopes hanging in the balance, the senior calmly nailed a 37-yard field goal to give the Gators a 34-31 win.

Not long after the game ended, images of Grantham taunting Henry surfaced and hit the Internet hard. The incident quickly drew attention nationwide and caused some in the media to call for Grantham, who later said he regretted making the gesture, to be fined and/or suspended.

But unlike many, Henry isn’t upset with Grantham. Not even a little.

In fact, he laughed about the episode Wednesday and suggested talk that Grantham should be punished was absurd.

“It was in the middle of a game,” Henry said. “It’s an intense game. It’s one of the most intense rivalries in college football. ? It’s just football. I think it’s ridiculous what people are trying to say that he should have to apologize for it and everything, or that he should be fined.”

For Henry, a Georgia native, the thrill from making Saturday’s game-winning kick hasn’t yet disappeared. And it’s easy to understand why.

A standout punter, Henry was pressed into placekicking duties in Week 5 after starter Caleb Sturgis was sidelined by a stress fracture in his back. Henry made two field goals against Alabama, but then missed four straight, including a potential game-tying kick in the final minute of a loss to Mississippi State.

Henry also missed a 42-yarder against Georgia in the first quarter, but rebounded to make one from 34 yards out in the fourth quarter and, of course, his overtime attempt.

“Going into the game, I knew it was going to be my redemption week,” Henry said.

Henry’s walkoff winner was the first for Florida in 21 years. In a 16-13 victory at LSU in 1989, Tampa native Arden Czyzewski put one through as time expired.

Since his memorable kick, Henry’s phone has been bombarded.

Asked how many people he had heard from, Henry said, “Probably like 80 or so.”

The messages he has received, from both texts and on Facebook, were welcome.

“It’s good to hear from everybody,” Henry said. “Even after the Mississippi State game, I got a lot of messages of support. It was nice.””

“I see that they’d taken a timeout and I looked over at their coach and I started laughing, like, ‘You’re going to ice me? I’m not even the kicker. You’re going to ice me?’” Henry said today. “So I start looking and I see the guy doing the choke. I look at him again and he does like, ‘You’re gonna choke.’ So I take my helmet off and I gave him a little smooch at him. I blew him a little kiss.”

The fact that Clay can write an entire “Will we excuse anything and everything in the name of winning?!?!” column without once mentioning Chris Rainey’s presence on the field that game pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how warped his priorities are.

The crazier the media/UF fans are getting about it the more proud I am becoming of it. Maybe we should take up a collection to have the choke memorialized in a painting in the style other great moments in our football history have been recorded. By the way, Chas Henry is officially off my s#%t list for handling this like a grown man. Good luck kid, sorry your Mama named you that.

Good points both. Unfortunately I kind of wish UF players/coaches were more obsessed with it so they can get all bent out of shape and nutso leading into next year’s game.

We have to get them even with us in the “playing tight” dept. What Grantham did, actually, is the same kind of BS that Spurrier pulled that made us want to beat him so badly that it got in the team’s heads.

I don’t think they were in our heads in the early to mid 90’s they were just way better than us (with the exception of 92′). I mean Goff had us to a place where at one time we had only one player on defense (Randall Godfrey) that anybody would really want. We were pathetic, we couldn’t tackle a paper sack.

Pride goeth before the fall, Brandon. I remember three years ago, everyone on this site was expressing the same righteous indignation over the endzone celebration and poking fun at Gatornation for reacting to it. Your dawgs are 0-and-3 against UF since then. You think Meyer isn’t already thinking about how to use this to his advantage? Think again.

I still can’t believe that this is as big of a deal as it is…HE MADE THE KICK!! Had he missed it, this non-story may have had some merit. I can honestly say if the roles were reversed it would not have “offended” me at all. It would have actually made it more comical.

Naw…It’s a bad deal, and Grantham’s a bad man. Corch will have him banned from the stadium next year. If Chas were his son, he’d fight CTG right now. He’ll also hand-out game balls to fans with sons who avoided felony charges and now play for the gators being the classy guy he is and all.

Well stated. An apology was all that is truly needed to remedy this situation and show players that his behavior is not to be emulated. All this media BS and fist clenching would be over with a simple apology. Alas…

Quote Of The Day

“But outside of that, the biggest advantage you can have is have good leadership, have a veteran football team, and when you’ve got that, it doesn’t matter whether you have spring practice or not. When you don’t have that, it’s tougher, when you don’t have leadership and you don’t have the experience at certain positions.”— Kirby Smart, Dawgs247, 3/31/20